Get the hell out of Iraq

In her weekly podcast with The Chronicle’s Marc Sandalow, Helen says President Bush’s visit to New Orleans one year after Hurricane Katrina was little more than a photo op.

And while the government’s failed response to Katrina may be an issue in the midterm elections, she says the big one is Iraq, and that the Democrats are chicken because they won’t take a stand on the war. Helen says the increasingly deadly Iraq war is impossible and unwinnable.

A reporter for more than 50 years, Helen has covered the White House for United Press International since the Kennedy administration. Her front row seat in the White House briefing room has made her the president’s chief interrogator through nine administrations.